I was wrecked after I watched this sermon below ⬇️⬇️⬇️. I felt every drop of his pain and frustration because this gospel is not preached enough. God is a selfless God and we need to be selfless people.
In the church we often ONLY learn and teach about what God can do for us. We keep asking God to get us out of debt, get accepted into a program, send a spouse, afford this and that, elevate our career, send opportunities, etc. But we often NEVER preach about the type of submission to His will that it takes to be the type of person ready to receive these blessings. YES, God wants to bless us, but he’s looking for obedience. He’s looking for people that will eliminate all of themselves and follow His will for their lives. He’s looking for people he can trust with big blessings.
What does this look like? It means removing of your impurities, your wills, your desires so that he can manifest his. This is submission.
When we think of this, we automatically think, “okay another person telling me to wait until marriage,” or , “okay I need to pray and read my bible more.” Yes, those things are important but it's much deeper than that. Impurities are anything hindering God from moving the way he wants to in your life.
Do you have friends that gossip a lot? Are all your conversations about other people and their misfortunes instead of what God is trying to do in your life? Is all you talk about is “tea”? How can God bless your network if you don’t know how to host a genuine conversation. He wants people that will speak positive things into existence. Remember, you can speak anything into existence, but is what you’re putting into the atmosphere about how you can help others, obey him and do His will? Or is it about other people’s business, nasty or rude things?
Are you not transparent? Are you afraid to trust people with your insecurities and impurities so that they can help you? (side note: being bottled up is so unhealthy. we are relational beings, we needs friends to uplift and support us in the best way possible. A friend can’t support you fully if they don’t know you fully. The only way they know you fully is by you being vulnerable and transparent. Also, key word, friend- make sure the people you’re transparent and vulnerable with are the people that are suppose to be your friends! Pray over who is toxic in your life and who isn’t. When God sends you an answer, be obedient and move accordingly immediately. THAT'S SUBMISSION. If he can trust you to end a relationship, he can trust you with a whole lot of things!)
How are you spending your time? What’s feeding your spirit majority of the day? What are you focused on? God is looking for people who are hungry for Him. He wants to elevate people who will put down social media to learn about Him. He wants people to spend their time and focus doing what He called them to do. If God sent you a business idea, internship, or assignments to fulfill and maximize on, but you’re too busy distracted by the shaderoom, imaginary fantasies/ lustful thoughts in your head, or watching/reading things that are not making you better- where is there room for Him? Where is there room for Him to do the work in your life that you desire? Some of you will say, “yes I make time to read my bible and pray everyday” but we need to evaluate the types of prayers and readings. Let’s be real. Are you reading two or three verses but don’t really understand what they mean ? Are you getting the knowledge needed to really help you fight the battles you and people around you are growing through? Are you doing in depth research on these verses such as history and understanding true context so that it can have the impact its suppose to have? The bible is a mystery. To get all that it has you must unlock it! This doesn’t come by reading a chapter of a story and not really understating what it means. Are you praying aggressively? When I say aggressively I don’t mean with anger. I mean with expectancy for things to change and understanding. For you to hear Gods voice and all that he has for you. He wants to have actual conversations with you and give you clarity on how to maneuver life. He can’t do this in a 10 minute conversation before class. He needs your time, effort and energy! This requires submission. Releasing of everything thats distracting you, waking up a little earlier, watching more sermons and videos until you understand things more, letting go of pride and reaching out for help. Submit to what he wants or you’ll never get what you need! He loves you too much!
Some of us are prideful and others are insecure. Both require an overwhelming amount of you and not Him. When you’re prideful you think about your ability, your successes, your gifts as if they belong to you and you’re the person who granted them. When you’re insecure it hinders you from doing things God wants to do through you. You’re so focused on being shy and thinking that people won’t believe in your ability and again you’re just thinking about yourself. If God tells you to say something say it! If he’s telling you to do something, do it! Be confident in the authority he’s given you. Yes, it can be uncomfortable, but that’s the purpose of submission.
SUBMIT. SUBMIT. SUBMIT. Give Him your all. He is longing for you, more of you, all of you, let him have it. Please, please, please, please let go of yourself.
Trust. I am not perfect AT ALL. Never claimed to be and never will. I’ve struggled with everything I just listed. But this semester I did a complete 360 on my life in submission to God. He’s blessed me abundantly, I move differently and I have a different confidence. Let God wreck you to build you. Allow Him to be the only person or spirit with the ability to do that.
This is big boy and girl stuff right here. Not everyone will get it. If you understand where I’m coming from, God is ready for you to submit. He wants all of you. That is true surrender. Trusting him with every person you’ll have to remove, album you’ll have to delete, T.V show you have to cut, plans that will be cancelled, job you have to leave, opportunity not for you, volunteer work you need to commit to, boyfriend you need distance from. He will replace abundantly and within his will. You just have to trust him. Yes, it will be hard. Your life is going to do a complete 360. BUT DO NOT TURN BACK. Connect with some people at a lively church or campus group, watch some sermons, pray and aggressively seek God for answers. God wants all of you and he’s so proud you’ve made the decision to follow Him.
If this has affected you in any way, leave a comment, email or DM me. Just stay connected, I want to hear from you!
God is proud of you, I am proud of you and I’m so excited about your new life! He says, “thanks for submitting, now I can really work in you. This is where the work really begins.”
xoxo @shelbsdsmith